lvety
pile.

"I'm so thirsty, Phil," said Harry, all at once; "where's the old
spring?"

"Oh! ever so far down the hill; and I don't know which side we are on
now. Let's get back to Papa: I know there's something in the basket.
Come along."

"It's no use to go back," said Harry, "let's go straight forward; they
can't be far-off; I'll shout."

And shout he did, when a reply came from no very distant spot; so they
struck off in the direction from which the sound proceeded, and soon
found themselves again by the trench, where a portion of the gravelly
soil had crumbled away, leaving the side so steep that Philip had to
jump down about five feet before he could descend further. Harry
thought this a capital chance for a practical joke, and gave a heavy
stamp with his heel, so as to send a small avalanche of gravel and
stones down upon his brother. But Harry had not calculated rightly this
time, for Philip, as he heard the stones coming, made a buck leap, and
came several feet lower down the side of the trench amongst the bushes;
whilst Harry, by his stamp, loosened about a cartload of gravel, and, in
company with Fred, went down with it, and they were buried up to the
knees in the loose soil.

The first sensation felt was fear; but, upon finding that there was no
further mischief to apprehend, Harry burst out laughing; Fred extricated
himself, for he was in the loosest part of the heap of _debris_; while
Philip, who was to have been the victim, seeing that his brother was
stuck fast, indulged in a kind of triumphant dance round him, softly
punching his head, and, of course, making the soil tighter at every
jump.

"Oh! don't, Phil," said Harry; "pull a fellow out--there's a good chap."

But Philip would not, and threatened to leave him to his fate; so Harry
appealed to Fred, and at last, by his assistance, got one leg out, when
freeing the other proved an easy task. After which his lordship had to
sit down and pull off his boots, to empty out the gravel and sand.

Meanwhile Fred was looking at the place where the earth had crumbled
down, for his curiosity had been excited by what at first sight appeared
to be a bit of old iron, of a very peculiar shape, and then, just beyond
it, what bore the appearance of a bone, but so earthy that it crumbled
under his foot.

"I say; look here," said he, pointing to something half enclosed in
earth; "what's that?"

"Why, it's a skull," said Philip, coming up.

"You're a